Today is the start of March Madness (I don't recognize play-in games). The term was coined when Caesar got mad about being stabbed to death on the Roman Senate floor in 44 BC.
It's also the start of people talking about their brackets. Few things worse in sports fandom than some bracket bigamist trying to talk to you about how they were going to take that No. 13 seed but didn't and now "one of their brackets" their ruined.
Just let me die in peace, guy.
TV REMINDER: No. 10 Ohio State faces off against No. 7 VCU at ~4:40 p.m. today on TNT. (I Can't wait to see what awful drama gets rammed down my throat during commercials.) Here's a solid primer.
HOW PATIENT 0 LANDED AT OSU. It's likely Kentucky will roll through this tournament and finish undefeated. If Ohio State can't win the title, then consider me a bandwagon member of #BBN, because John Calipari making a mockery of the NBA's shambolic one-and-done rule is glorious.
Who cares if a bunch of Kentuckians find some joy in life that isn't brought to them by whiskey, cheap cigarettes, or opiates? Not me. I'm in this business for the tears of my enemies, and anybody who doesn't realize Calipari is a symptom and not the disease is no friend of mine.
But enough about Kentucky, which, all things considered, isn't a bad state in 2015.
Let's talk about how Kentuckian D'Angelo Russell, who hails from Louisville, ended up playing for a team that isn't the Lousiville Cardinals or the Kentucky Wildcats.
From Ari Wasserman of cleveland.com's excellent profile of 0's recruitment:
"You see through all that BS," Russell said. "You get over the hype, you see what matters and doesn't. I told my dad I didn't wanna go through all that crazy recruiting stuff. I always prided myself in being different. Just growing up, I didn't wanna go through official visits. Before, I want to be on ESPN and all that, but once reality set in and things got tough for me, it was just irrelevant.
"Coach Matta recruited me the best, I had a close relationship with him immediately and I saw a great opportunity at Ohio State. Sometimes it's just that simple."
[...]
"I've always been my own guy," Russell said. "The attention I am getting now, I probably wouldn't get that if I were on a Kentucky team where it's a big list of all-stars. I just went my own way, and it's working out for me great."
The Skull Session carries respect for any person willing to forge their own paths, but even more so when that path leads through The Ohio State University.
It's crazy to think now, but Russell was "only" a mid-lottery to late first-round pick entering the season. He's silky enough to have shined at any program at which he landed, but I do agree he wouldn't be getting the attention his talents deserve at Kentucky.
The downside, however, is he instead plays for a team that's four-point underdogs to Virginia Commonwealth. (I assume, however, the millions of dollars in future earnings will go a long way in assuaging that.)
SHAKA'S OHIO CONNECTIONS. I like VCU's Shaka Smart, despite my telescope into his soul being his team's play and this GIF. But I picked up further respect for him yesterday, as I found out he's a disciple of my favorite OSU basketballer, Michael Redd.
From the ASAP Sports transcript of Smart's presser yesterday:
Q. How does a kid from Madison find Gambier, Ohio? Since the Final Four you've had a lot of opportunities to go to bigger programs. I wondered what has kept you staying at VCU?
COACH SMART: Well, in answer to your first question, the reason that I ended up at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, was the basketball coach. Bill Brown recruited me. He came to Madison a couple times to come see me. I just developed a really good relationship with him. He was a father figure for me as a kid that grew up in a single-parent home. Unfortunately he left after my freshman year, but by that time I'd been at Kenyon for a year. I really enjoyed it there. I'm somebody that doesn't really like change. I didn't leave. I stuck with it. Had a great four years there. While I was there, I would read the Columbus Dispatch every day. I remember reading about Michael Redd, Scoonie Penn, the great teams that those guys had. We were like 45, 50 minutes away. But in terms of basketball, we were a world away because that was Big Ten basketball and I was playing Division III. I followed their team really closely, looked up to those guys because they were terrific players. Second question was about me staying at VCU. I get that question a lot. I enjoy it at VCU. It's a school where basketball matters quite a bit. We enjoy the opportunity to coach our guys every day, be around them, help them get better on and off the court. Obviously most of the attention is paid to winning or losing. I understand that's how it works. But I enjoy all around everything about the opportunity at VCU. Also the support that we have there is very, very good.
Ol' Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd would've been a great Buckeye NBA JAM duo. (Obviously, Mike Conley and Greg Oden would run roughshod in that tournament.)
Just My Take©: Ohio State should call up Michael Redd and see if he wants to shoot some hoops tonight. I doubt even the NCAA would object since everybody loves Michael Redd.
URBAN LOVES HIS TRACK STARS. Urban's belief in speed winning football games isn't news, but it's always interesting to see beliefs quantified.
2012-2015 (Urban Era) @OhioStFootball 99 recruits, 86 HS multi-sport, 61 track, 22 HS 3-sport athletes...see chart pic.twitter.com/H73zev1fEf
— TrackingFootball.com (@TrckFootball) March 16, 2015
Since 2012 @OhioStFootball recruited SIX state champion track athletes, 3 runner-ups, FOUR 23ft+ long jumpers, TEN sub-11 sec/100 sprinters
— TrackingFootball.com (@TrckFootball) March 16, 2015
Parents: Maybe your kid doesn't need to be a single-sport guru by middle school? (Signed, a non-parent whose athletic career peaked with a high school rec league championship.)
DANG, MICHIGAN. Ohio State has been good since 2004, while the Big Ten has been bad. That is my analysis of this graph:
BigTen records since 2004: Ohio St 74-14 Wisc 61-27 PSU 53-35 MSU 52-36 UM 49-39 Iowa 48-40 NW 40-48 Minn 31-57 PU 31-57 ILL 23-65 IU 17-71
— PickSix Previews B1G (@PickSix_BigTen) March 18, 2015
Thank you for your readership and not commenting about the fact we're both just here for the comments.
And now that Aston Villa looks to be on their way to EPL safety (Thank You Based Sherwood), I am back to thinking relegation is cool and good. There's some fat that needs trimmed in this conference.
OSU'S STARK COUNTY CHAMPIONS. STARK COUNTY, BABY! I could get excited about spring break in Stark County; it's vintage Ohio. Did you also know it's a city that's produced liters of championship Buckeye blood? It's true.
From Todd Porter of TheScoreStark.com:
No family has been more loyal on the Stark-to-OSU train than the Fox-Kuhn-Stier families. The last of the family to play helped Ohio State win the 2002 national championship. Dustin Fox was a defensive back and special teams player on that team, alongside All-American Mike Doss from McKinley. Fox played at GlenOak. The Buckeyes were no stranger to him.
“I definitely felt a bond or a tie to Ohio State because of my family ties,” Fox said. “Also the fact that you grow up in Ohio, you’re going to be exposed to Ohio State football. It’s natural to lean in that direction.”
Freakin' Mike Doss. I love that guy, but he should have lost to Marion Harding in the 1998 OHSAA playoffs. (No, I'm not a bitter, lonely man. Why do you people keep asking me that while their heads?)
Porter's story also included a great anecdote showing why the streets call Urban Meyer the Closer:
“Bri’onte had a visit set up for Michigan that weekend,” said Dunn’s high school coach at GlenOak, Scott Garcia. “Urban called on Tuesday morning before that weekend. He said we’re going to come up and meet tonight and get this solved, and you won’t need to go to Michigan, but he said he wasn’t going to waste his time coming up if Bri’onte was going to Michigan. It was that cut and dried.
"Listen, #teen. You're good. We want you. But you're not worth a two-hour drive to me right now. So let me know if you want championships or pain. Either way, it will be my hand that feeds you. Now, I'm going to go and polish my rings while you marinate in this. You have my number."
ODEN (POSSIBLY) ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL. I'm 28 and struggling to remember a player with a checkered injury history suddenly turning into an ironman.
From the Associated Press via IndyStarSports.com:
Matta spoke Wednesday in Portland, where Ohio State is preparing to face Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA tournament's round of 64. This is the same city where the Trail Blazers selected Oden with the top pick in 2007, but the 7-foot center was constantly sidelined with knee injuries.
Matta said Oden has been doing "high-level training" the past 6 months with coaches at Ohio State and weighs about 280 pounds.
"Quite honestly, I haven't seen Greg look this good since when he played for us back in the day at Ohio State," Matta said. "His attitude is off the charts. He went through a lot. You look at Greg's life, how difficult things have been. I know that he is a kid that never wanted to let people down. The injuries, you know, none of us can prevent those. I know there's part of him that wishes that stuff couldn't have happened. I still swear he was going to be one of the greatest to ever play in the NBA just from the year I was with him."
High-level training, eh? Benihana must be gluten-free these days.
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